LOCAL

LOCAL

Riverside prevails, 7-2

BOARDMAN — Riverside defeated the Mooney/Ursuline Thunder Hockey Club Friday, 7-2.

Ryan Carothers scored both goals for U/M while Dean Macklen had two assists and Anthony Williams and Eric Davignon each had an assist.

Parma is winner, 9-3

BOARDMAN — Parma scored four goals in each of the first two periods and defeated the Canfield hockey team Saturday, 9-3.

Greg Firestone scored twice and Tyler Buchenic added a goal for Canfield.

Parma took 40 shots while Canfield took 13.

Grove City hall

GROVE CITY, Pa. — Grove City College will enshrine three former standouts into its Men’s Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame during its January 19 meet against Washington and Jefferson.

This year’s inductees are David McClintic ‘65, Charles Stadler ‘65 and Keith Bennett ‘85. Their inclusion brings the total number of Hall of Famers to 36.

STATE

Baseball writers honor
Sabathia, Shapiro

CLEVELAND — C.C. Sabathia, winner of the 2007 AL Cy Young Award, received another honor when he was named the Cleveland Indians’ Man of the Year by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

General manager Mark Shapiro was selected as the winner of the Steve Olin Good Guy Award for his cooperation with the media.

The 27-year-old Sabathia emerged as one of baseball’s best pitchers in 2007. The left-hander went 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA, 209 strikeouts and only 37 walks while pitching a major league-high 241 innings.

Sabathia won his latest honor in a close vote over catcher Victor Martinez, who led the Indians in home runs (25), RBIs (114) and batting average (.301).

Right-handers Fausto Carmona and Rafael Betancourt also were nominated for the award, which annually recognizes the player who had the most significant impact on the Indians’ season. Carmona went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA, while Betancourt anchored a strong bullpen by going 5-1 with a 1.47 ERA, three saves and a remarkable 80-to-9 strikeout-to-walks ratio.

Shapiro was recognized by writers who cited the general manager’s regular availability and forthcoming approach with all media members on a regular basis. Last month, he was named major league executive of the year by The Sporting News for the second time in three years.

Right-handers Jake Westbrook and Joe Borowski along with first baseman Ryan Garko also were nominated for the Good Guy Award.

NATION

Davis Cup winner

PORTLAND, Ore. — Andy Roddick was loud, proud and reflective after helping the United States win its first Davis Cup title since 1995.

“To be here and to bring the Cup back to the States is just an amazing feeling,” he said. “But more importantly, just to share the journey with these guys, it’s been so much fun.”

Roddick got the U.S. off to a fast start and brothers Bob and Mike Bryan finished the job Saturday, beating Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-2 for the Americans’ third straight win in the best-of-five final.

Roddick and Blake each won their singles matches Friday on the indoor hard court at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum.

The once-dominant United States had not won the Davis Cup in 12 years, the longest span without an American victory. Pete Sampras last led the team to victory over Russia on clay in Moscow.

The United States now has 32 titles in the international team competition, dating to 1900. After the victory, team captain Patrick McEnroe was asked if it was his best moment ever in tennis.

McEnroe started his reply: “It’s not about me, it’s about this whole group of guys ... “ But he was interrupted by a jubilant Roddick.

“Say yes!” he shouted.

The U.S. had not taken the first three matches of a Davis Cup final since 1990 against Australia.

With Roddick and Blake looking on, both doubles teams held serve through the first set, forcing the tiebreaker. When the United States took a 5-3 lead, Andreev slammed his racket to the court. Andreev double-faulted on the twins’ second set point.

Andreev and Davydenko had only been partnered once before as a doubles team in Davis Cup play, and often conferred over strategy. Davydenko, who came to the Davis Cup mired in an investigation into unusual betting patterns during a match in August, had played a doubles match only twice before this year.

WORLD

Beckham superb
in Galaxy’s tour finale

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Even David Beckham was impressed with this virtuoso display.

He set up three goals, scored on a penalty kick and played all 90 minutes, leading Los Angeles to a 4-1 victory over the Wellington Phoenix on Saturday in the Galaxy’s exhibition tour finale.

“I was surprised because I am not a penalty taker, but Landon (Donovon) told me to have it and I was happy to,” he said. “I saw the ball pretty well so I had every chance to score, and so this tour’s ended up well for us.”

The English star said he had bronchitis and during the game clutched his chest several times. But that didn’t stop him from thrilling the sellout crowd of 35,000 — the largest for a soccer game in New Zealand — as the Galaxy wrapped up their tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Wellington, which plays in the Australian A-League, threatened to upstage the visitors when it took the lead in the seventh minute. A corner kick was relayed from the far post by Steven Old to Ross Aloisi, whose shot beat the goalkeeper. Beckham set up the tying goal in the 16th minute. His cross to the far post found Donovan, and Donovan’s low pass was driven home by Clint Mathis. Donovan put the Galaxy ahead a minute before halftime with a left-footed shot from 10 yards after Beckham had played a long ball from one flank to the other.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Beckham had his back to the goal when he received a pass. He laid the ball off for halftime substitute Carlos Pravon, who smacked the ball home.

Beckham didn’t get a chance for one of his trademark free kicks — he scored on one in the Galaxy’s 5-3 loss to Sydney FC in Australia four days ago — but he converted a low penalty shot after Pravon stumbled in the box.

Vindicator staff/wire reports